


Testing

by ultharkitty



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-28
Updated: 2011-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-28 09:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultharkitty/pseuds/ultharkitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the war, while working for Onslaught, Blast Off gets an upgrade on his cannons. He takes Brawl along for his first test fire.</p><p> </p><p>Contains: one big explosion, implied Blast Off/Vortex, gun kink of a kind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Testing

Orbit, Blast Off mused, was one of his favourite places.

The planet didn’t matter, it was the distance that counted. In space, it was often hard to comprehend how far away he was from any particular celestial body, but in orbit he had the ground right there, giving him an immediate, visual understanding that was so much more intuitive than the clinical data collected by his other sensors.

It was pleasing to see how much space there was between himself and the nearest sentient being.

The tank, he decided, didn’t count.

Brawl was glued to the window in his cargo hold. Not literally, thank Sigma, but he might as well have been, the way he pressed himself against the toughened crystal. His orange visor gleamed brightly, and he bounced constantly, brimming with the kind of energy Blast Off would be very glad to get as far away from himself as possible.

The door to the flight deck was, of course, locked.

“You gonna do it yet!?” Brawl yelled. He had a drill sergeant’s voice, or what Blast Off thought of as a drill sergeant’s voice, having managed to avoid military service. Altogether too loud, Brawl couldn’t say anything without shouting. It was wearing, to say the least.

“Soon,” Blast Off replied. He diverted power to his cannons. Oh, they were glorious. He’d never appreciated the joy of really big guns before working for Onslaught, but his recent upgrade to military issue integrated weapons had given him a whole new perspective on things.

It didn’t hurt that the copter found them attractive.

“How about now!?” Brawl bounced. “Frag, I wanna see this! This is gonna be so awesome!”

“Indeed,” Blast Off replied, then wondered why he bothered. Brawl had been sent to observe. A true-to-the-core military mech, the tank knew two things: protocol and explosions. Or so Onslaught had said. Apparently, Brawl, Onslaught and Vortex went way back. This explained why Brawl was trusted with anything more than waking himself up at the beginning of his shift cycle, and why Vortex didn’t put him in repair bay anywhere near as often as he deserved.

It didn’t mean that Blast Off had to like him. But it did mean that a modicum of deference was politic, even if he couldn’t help the patronising tone of some of his responses.

“You got ‘em aimed yet?” Brawl said. “You know you gotta take the rolly bit into considerwhatsit when you do the sums and stuff yeah?”

“Yes,” Blast Off replied. “I have indeed taken the rotation of the planet into consideration. Cannons are locked on coordinates latitude 10.8…” he paused to recalibrate his worldview. “Those big mountains with white on top,” he said. “I’m aiming for them.”

“Frag yeah!” Brawl punched the air happily, and pressed himself closer to the wall.

Blast Off rechecked his calculations. He knew they were correct, but he wanted Brawl to stay silent long enough that he could savour the anticipation. He’d only ever had civilian grade weapons before; the military tech that Onslaught bought up like other mechs bought wax polish was in a totally different league to anything he’d experienced.

He allowed the charge to accumulate, a low thrum spreading out from his cannons to envelop his entire frame. Static built, crawling across his instruments. Through his onboard cameras, he watched Brawl tense.

All right, he thought. “Countdown initiated. Test firing in three… two… onearghhhhhhhhhhhhfragYES!”

His frame erupted in a glorious pulse of searing, violet heat. The lasers discharged, twin lines speeding towards their target, but Blast Off hardly saw them for the molten glow that lit up each and every part of him.

“Woohoo!” Brawl bounced some more, but Blast Off ignored him.

That was… amazing, intense, beautiful. He spun around, watching the ground, the stars, the planet again, feeling the heat disperse to a satiated warmth, observing his systems recover with a wonder he hadn’t experienced since his first ever interface.

“Awesome,” Brawl said, and for once he did so quietly.

And no wonder, Blast Off thought as he focused again on his target, employing more than just his visual sensors to appreciate the full range of available data.

The mountains were gone. No more snow-capped peaks, no more green valleys. Instead, a rising plume of grey dust billowed up, flickering and sparking with purple-tinged lightning.

Activating his record function, Blast Off spoke slowly, attempting for the sake of his own dignity to keep his excitement out of his voice. “Test fire one: success. Targeting systems fully operational. Test subject obliterated.” He stopped, wondering if this was what Vortex felt like when he couldn’t quite prevent himself from gleefully insane laughter.

“All right!” Brawl cried. “Let’s go again!”

Tingling from the tip of his nose to the ends of his thrusters, it took all of Blast Off’s willpower not to yell out ‘YES!’. Instead, he affected his usual bored tone. “If we must,” he said.


End file.
